Case Study 1: Lew-Mark Baking Company
Case Study 1: Lew-Mark Baking Company
The Company
The Lew-Mark Baking Company is located in a small town in western New York State.The bakery is run by two brothers. Lew and Mark, who formed the company after theypurchased an Archway Cookie franchise. With exclusive rights in New York and New Jersey,it is the largest Archway franchise. The company employs fewer than 200 people, mainly bluecollar workers, and the atmosphere is informal.
The Product
The company’s only product is soft cookies, of which it makes over 50 varieties. Larger companies, such as Nabisco, Sunshine, and Keebler, have traditionally produced biscuit cookies, in which most of the water has been baked out, resulting in crisp cookies. Archway cookies have no additives or preservatives. The high quality of the cookies has enabled the company to develop a strong market niche for its product.
The Customers
The cookies are sold in convenience stores and supermarkets throughout New York and New Jersey. Archway markets its cookies as “good food” no additives or preservatives and this appeals to a health-conscious segment of the market. Many customers are over 45 years of age, and prefer a cookie that is soft and not too sweet. Parents with young children also buy the cookies.
The Production Process
The company has two continuous band ovens that it uses to bake the cookies. The production process is called a batch processing system. It begins as soon as management gets orders from distributors. These orders are used to schedule production. At the start of each shift, a list of the cookies to be made that day is delivered to the person in charge of mixing. That person checks a master list, which indicates the ingredients needed for each type of cookie, and enters that information into the computer. The computer then determines the amount of each ingredient needed, according to the quantity of cookies ordered, and relays that information to storage silos located outside the plant where the
The Company
The Lew-Mark Baking Company is located in a small town in western New York State.The bakery is run by two brothers. Lew and Mark, who formed the company after theypurchased an Archway Cookie franchise. With exclusive rights in New York and New Jersey,it is the largest Archway franchise. The company employs fewer than 200 people, mainly bluecollar workers, and the atmosphere is informal.
The Product
The company’s only product is soft cookies, of which it makes over 50 varieties. Larger companies, such as Nabisco, Sunshine, and Keebler, have traditionally produced biscuit cookies, in which most of the water has been baked out, resulting in crisp cookies. Archway cookies have no additives or preservatives. The high quality of the cookies has enabled the company to develop a strong market niche for its product.
The Customers
The cookies are sold in convenience stores and supermarkets throughout New York and New Jersey. Archway markets its cookies as “good food” no additives or preservatives and this appeals to a health-conscious segment of the market. Many customers are over 45 years of age, and prefer a cookie that is soft and not too sweet. Parents with young children also buy the cookies.
The Production Process
The company has two continuous band ovens that it uses to bake the cookies. The production process is called a batch processing system. It begins as soon as management gets orders from distributors. These orders are used to schedule production. At the start of each shift, a list of the cookies to be made that day is delivered to the person in charge of mixing. That person checks a master list, which indicates the ingredients needed for each type of cookie, and enters that information into the computer. The computer then determines the amount of each ingredient needed, according to the quantity of cookies ordered, and relays that information to storage silos located outside the plant where the